Abstract
This definition is cryptic and perhaps outdated. Recursion is now a very popular and powerful technique in the world of non-numerical programming. The idea of recursion is used in two ways. It can be used to describe structures that have other structures as components. It can also be used to describe programs that need to satisfy a copy of themselves before they themselves can succeed. Sometimes, beginners view recursion with some suspicion, because, how is it possible for some relationship to be defined in terms of itself? In Prolog, recursion is the normal and natural way of viewing data structures and programs. We hope that the theme of this chapter recursion, will be made explicit in a comfortable and unobtrusive way.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2003 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Clocksin, W.F., Mellish, C.S. (2003). Using Data Structures. In: Programming in Prolog. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55481-0_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55481-0_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-00678-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-55481-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive